That’s the well worn myth talking, heat pumps need insulation as much as gas boilers do - as in it’s great, do it if it’s reasonably cheap, but it is by no means a requirement by any stretch.
I think that’s the thing right - a decent boiler swap is £2-4k in itself and a full heat pump install is £4-6k average.
What I’m saying is that if you’re giving the option to homeowners to get clean heat with an interest free loan for 5-10 years, it’s much more compelling than £2-4k on credit card
The initial outlay post BUS is only typically £1-2k more than a straight boiler swap, but yes, I know a lot of folks can’t even afford *that*. But hopefully the Warm Homes plan with interest free loans will sort that out making it the obvious choice.
Make ToU tariffs the default, but integrate weather forecasts with electricity prices “oh it’s sunny and windy, let’s do the washing”. We’re allowed to be radical here, yes? 😂
Also, Loft insulation rolls, £5 each.
Implement the warm homes plan asap - with the interest free loans as the main driver.
It’s so pervasive as a myth it’s akin to gospel. You can heat an uninsulated barn with heat pumps extremely efficiently if you wanted, with a heat pump of the correct size for the heat load and radiators large enough to emit the required heat at a ‘low’ flow temperature - <55c, the lower the better.
I’ve gone Cosy with my HP and battery. Has been nice knowing 99% of the usage during winter is all at 13.5p/kWh.
I know, I was near Snowdon around new year and took this with Night Mode, it would have been pitch black save a little moonlight.
It would be nice if it could look dark but detailed.
Especially as you only get to play it once.
Out goes the alternative Martin Lewis strategy!
Yeah I think if it was a lot closer to 3x then I think it’s much more compelling to most as they won’t be thinking “oh I have to adjust for boiler efficiency, and smart tariffs…”. The headline rate is what will determine the pace of change.
Sort of, the easy stuff yes - loft insulation, CWI if the property has unfilled cavity walls, and going from single to double glazing.
Beyond that though, not really.
yeah you don’t need the complaints 🤣
Nah I keep the bedroom probably 17-18c, just using standard TRV to limit it.
Honestly they’re so quiet. This is mine and what you can hear is road noise from 50m away right up until the end - about 50cm away is heat pump noise.
Nah, you don’t *need* underfloor at all. I’ve just got rads in my house and it’s great, since October when I got it, I’m on 4.2 SCOP which is about ~20% cheaper than gas on price cap. Yes to proper installer though, needs a bit more thought than a boiler slinger will do on average.
Yes, I’ve done it. It just keeps my house at 21c all day and 20c at night to the point I genuinely do not have a clue about how cold or not outside is.
I recommend doing your research into Heat Geek, in a good way, they are basically part high end heating training organisation and part lead generation for the trained engineer base (who are themselves independent companies).
I would say I’ve got one. The noise you hear right to up until the end is traffic from a road 50m away, only the last few seconds when it’s close is the heat pump noise. Honestly cannot hear it unless my head is with ~50cm of it.
I would recommend a Heat Geek trained engineer for this, probably their Black Label product given the full renovation project side of things.
www.heatgeek.com/black-label
Indeed, I had the same a couple of years ago ago when I was trying to ballpark my heat loss - no data for weeks from the gas meter, but happened to be lucky to get some granular data for a period which was at design temp of -3c. But without that I wouldn’t have been confident on my heat pump design
I think it doesn’t send consumption- it just sends the reading. Then all that’s lost is the time element rather than overall usage.
I had the same before I got rid of the gas when I got my heat pump, but it’s the electric that connects to the wider smart meter network and the gas connects locally to the electric meter. Mine was 3 brick walls in the way so only got patchy data for gas. Not the best design it seems.
Yes, but that was true anyway, as you should size for the heat loss, whatever it is big or small.
But the post I replied to was suggesting a bigger heat pump can ‘solve’ the problem, but what I’m trying to say is that upsizing rads can have the same effect as insulation to energy input.
When I say worrying about heat loss I mean, for the same heat loss.
Correct, but people also miss that you can have a similar effect just by upsizing the rads. If you calculate the difference from a 55c flow to 40c design flow temp is a 25+% decrease on energy *input* rather than worrying about heat *loss*.
Not really, you up size the radiators, *not* oversizing the heat pump. Big rads = lower flow temps = higher efficiency, which is equivalent to insulation from an energy input perspective.
Honestly it’s worth it just for the comfort, *everything in your house* is just warm all the time. The running costs are a very nice bonus!
Soon, once it’s up and running, you’ll find it amazing yet boring as all it does is keep your home at basically the same temperature all day everyday and you don’t need to touch it 🤣
Indeed - not only that, previously surveys have typically vastly overestimated ventilation losses, so surveys conducted longer than a couple of years ago will likely be overstating heat requirements and by extension the radiator upgrades. But yes, it’s case by case but *not* difficult.
